America In Crisis, Part 1

It was one of those great moments in American sports. Maybe some of you remember a baseball player, the center fielder for the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs were playing the Dodgers on April 25 in 1976. During the fourth inning, William Thomas and his son ran out onto the field and attempted to set fire to the American flag. They doused it with lighter fluid, and their first match was blown out by the wind. That gave center fielder Rick Monday just enough time to sprint over and swipe the flag away and carry it to safety. It was a touching moment.

I will always remember what followed as a very proud moment for America. The scoreboard lights congratulated Rick Monday: “Rick Monday…you made a great play.” It was truly a ‘goose-bump’ moment. A whole stadium filled with patriotic Americans began to sing ‘God Bless America’.

Americans have proven throughout their history that times of difficulty bring unity, not division.

On tax day (April 15th, 2013), Americans rallied to support the families of the innocent who were wounded or killed at the Boston marathon. We all shared the pain.

I was only a second grader when my father picked me up at school; and as we traveled home, he told me of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was a devastating moment, but Americans came together in our moment of tragedy.

I will never forget traveling south on 185 toward Baker High School in 1990 and watching our troops from Fort Benning head north in a convoy of buses that stretched for miles. The residents of Columbus lined every bridge from Macon Road to Fort Benning and waved yellow ribbons and cheered as we sent our young soldiers off to war. On that day, I was so proud to be an American.

In 2001, I was teaching at Duluth High School in Atlanta, and a teacher came to my room and suggested I turn on the television. The terrorists had struck the twin towers in New York City. The flow of food, water, medical supplies, prayer, and sympathy into the streets of New York from all across this nation made me proud to be an American.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina affected 15 million as it decimated the city of New Orleans. Youth groups from across America traveled to the area to assist in the clean up and show their support for fellow Americans in trouble, and I was proud to be an American.

Americans came together after school shootings in Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook. There is something very, very special about Americans.

Now Americans are facing a different kind of crisis. It is covert. It is subtle. It is slowly creeping upon us like a fog in the night. Many Americans are unaware of the danger our country faces.

Let me preface the rest of what I want to say with this: I love America.

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I love the Bill of Rights. There is no other document in history that so adequately defines the limits of government.

I love the Statue of Liberty. She has always stood with open arms to welcome the oppressed to our shores.

I love the Constitution because it ensures justice to the accused. It gives us a right to an attorney, a right to protect ourselves, and prohibits the government from invading the private space of our homes and offices.

I love America. I love living in the greatest land on earth. I love being a citizen of this great country.

That being said, it is with great sadness that I recognize that America is in deep trouble. Maybe George Carlin captured it well when he wrote:

“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.”